August 04, 2005

• I think your idea of casing the joint is most likely. Yikes.
• Yeah, sounds like it.
• Wait -- if the guy didn't know you lived out in the country, is he casing? Wouldn't he know at least that much before he made the call? Look at the address and see if it was a nieghbourhood worth busting into? I'd vote for the first possibility instead. But scary nevertheless. (Had a couple of walk-ins to the office last week, wanting some legal advice on a Nigerian scam, seeing if the Spanish lottery they won but never entered could really be legit. Despite all the different ways I told them it was a scam and they'd be screwed, they just wanted to believe.)
• Unnerving. This is why I like caller ID: if they have not blocked their number (hey, some scammers are really dumb) you can give it to the police. I think they were trying to accomplish two things: who lives there (now we know a man and a woman) and are they the kind of people who will jump at a chance to pay their debts. In telling your mom that your dad loaned him money will give them the answer to a differnte question: yes, a man also lives there. This means she doesn't live alone. If lured out of the house, they can identify you at a pre-arranged street corner and pretend not to show up, all without you even knowing it. But worst of all, they know EXACTLY when you will be gone, and likely will have someone clean out the house. Let's face it, some of them have quite elaborate schemes. Sounds like mom did the right thing. Good job!
• It's the phonecalls from the mystery man that really creep me out. I sure do wish they'd stop.
• It's possible he's just not altogether there. Somehow became convinced that your dad was the guy, etc., etc. Still, definitely worth keeping an eye open.
• Chyren -- I am from Indiana! (although my mom is just a bit beyond child rearing age (by a decade or so...))
• wrong number?
• No, the guy asked for my dad by name. Even if it was a wrong number, he gave my mom a number which turned out to be bogus. Whatever he was up to, he knew exactly what he was doing.
• Had a guy show up one evening in full ADT gear. Wanted my name, phone number, and when I would be home. I was home right then. I asked for some literature. He told me that they would be calling over the next couple of days to try to catch me when I was home. One day shortly thereafter I did return home from work to find the door ajar. The computer and stereo were still there. I could find nothing missing. The next morning as I was getting dressed I realized that I no longer owned any pants.
• bernockle, that is a totally awesome story.
• Actual Death Trance? All Day Tickle? Automatic Drive Transmission? Average Dented Triangle? Awkward Dick Tingle?
• This is a totally true story. If my mom were alive today, she'd confirm it, but my family heard all about it from all parties involved (I'd get my own blog but I have nothing else of interest to say): My last year of college, I was getting ready to move out of the little apartment I had rented near NAU (Flagstaff, Arizona). I was driving back and forth to Phoenix, taking stuff to my parents' house for storage. I spent a half a week in Phoenix, and then Mom and I drove back up to Flag for another load. I parked out back, unlocked the door, and when we stepped into my apartment (all torn up from my move), we were confronted by an old guy. We were too freaked out to do anything but demand who he was and what he was doing there. He looked at me and said "Don't you know who I am? I'm ____ your dad." My mom said, "I know who her dad is and it isn't you!" He looked totally dejected, apologized, and walked out. I reported this to my landlord, who was mortified because this man had appeared while I was gone, identified himself as my father, and shown acceptible identification. He said he had been looking for me for years, and had finally found me. The landlord let him into my apartment, where he stayed and ate the only food I had remaining (hot dogs) and sat on the curb every evening waiting for me. I was very frightened, and even though my mom insisted on making a police report, I didn't really have the heart because I saw how devastated he looked when he realized he'd made a mistake. The next day, my dad in Phoenix got frantic calls from some of my fellow grad students still in town. It turns out that a girl approximately my age with my exact name was found dead in a Flagstaff motel. She had overdosed on cold medicine, of all things. Scared the hell out of everyone. Absolutely true story, and sorry to blather on, but I really don't tell this much. Sometimes I think back on the guy, and hope he found truth and peace. So long way around, jccalhoun, but what happened to your mom might be pure evil or bittersweet coincidence, or somewhere in between. Best of luck and keep a sharp eye out. Sounds like they're on the ball.
• This is a totally true story. If my mom were alive today, she'd confirm it, but my family heard all about it from all parties involved (I'd get my own blog but I have nothing else of interest to say): My last year of college, I was getting ready to move out of the little apartment I had rented near NAU (Flagstaff, Arizona). I was driving back and forth to Phoenix, taking stuff to my parents' house for storage. I spent a half a week in Phoenix, and then Mom and I drove back up to Flag for another load. I parked out back, unlocked the door, and when we stepped into my apartment (all torn up from my move), we were confronted by an old guy. We were too freaked out to do anything but demand who he was and what he was doing there. He looked at me and said "Don't you know who I am? I'm ____ your dad." My mom said, "I know who her dad is and it isn't you!" He looked into my completely horrified face for a moment, apologized, and walked out. I reported this to my landlord, who was mortified because this man had appeared while I was gone, identified himself as my father, and shown acceptible identification. He said he had been looking for me for years, and had finally found me. The landlord let him into my apartment, where he stayed and ate the only food I had remaining (hot dogs) and sat on the curb every evening waiting for me. I was very frightened, and even though my mom insisted on making a police report, I didn't really have the heart because I saw how devastated he looked when he realized he'd made a mistake. The next day, my dad in Phoenix got frantic calls from some of my fellow grad students still in town. It turns out that a girl approximately my age with my exact name was found dead in a Flagstaff motel. She had overdosed on cold medicine, of all things. Scared the hell out of everyone. Absolutely true story, and sorry to blather on, but I really don't tell this much. Sometimes I think back on the guy, and hope he found truth and peace. So long way around, jccalhoun, but what happened to your mom might be pure evil or bittersweet coincidence, or somewhere in between. Best of luck and keep a sharp eye out. Sounds like they're on the ball.
• holy moley! a double post rambler! sorry!!!
• Damn cynnbad, that's a freaky story.
• Come to think of it, this might have made a decent Curious George of its own at the time. It's a weird one, though: last year at college (i.e. in a house that has had a lot of residents but all normal-ish student types; I had lived in the same room the previous year part of the time as well) I got recurring calls from what I best understood as someone being held at the local sheriff's office (the school was in a mid-sized town) asking for an attorney, or for me to call somebody else long distance for them or various things. He claimed to be somebody from out of town who got picked up for previous traffic violations or something. It really freaked me out at the time and it still doesn't add up, far as I can compute. The weird part is, he kept calling; I got calls for at least two months or so, none of which I answered after the first one. My phone was really cheap and I could hardly understand what was being said, but the guy would leave messages every time I didn't pick up --and hang up immediately when I heard the authentic sounding "This call is being monitored for security reasons" introduction. I can't believe a scammer would be that persistent, indirect, and consistent. (he left barely-understandable messages asking for the number of an attorney, for me to call his friend in a nearby city, or just telling me that he was being ill-treated by the authorities) I can't imagine anyone would have been that dedicated to a prank. But if it's true, where the hell did he get my number and WHY did he keep calling? Probably should have called the sheriff's office, I suppose.
• I hereby dedicate this thread to the "what the hell" category and am marking it. Cool story, stripe, and too much bizarre stuff occurs in my own (and other monkies'?) lives that we must document.
• We used to get calls from the county jail all the time from inmates asking us to do them favors, like call family or attorneys for them, send them money.... I'm not sure why. I got them at at least 2 residences that I lived at, 2 different numbers, 2 different sets of roommates. I was in college at the time, I don't know if that's related, but it sure seems like it.
• We also got calls from the county jail. Sometimes it was someone my parents knew (a relative), so my mom wouldn't hang up on the recording. Perhaps this got around, because for a few months we got lots and lots of lewd calls from the prison by people we didn't know. Ew. Ew. EW. Finally, my mom called the jail and complained, and they just blocked our number from their end. My relative had to call someone else, which was ok with us too.
• While at work one afternoon, I got a call and answered with my normal ", this is Bob". The caller asked "Can I speak with Bernard*?" and with what was my common behavior at the time, I answered "hold on hello?**" The caller identified himself as with a collections agency and wanted to discuss "my" outstanding debts. To make the 15 minute call short, I basically played along, for the sport of it, and garnered just about all of this "Bernard" guy's person credit information and history, with the exception of maybe his SS number, learned of all his past and recent purchases, all of his debt, even the amounts of recent credit card payments. Eventually, I agreed to a payment plan for which I, er he, would be willing to begin to pay back his debts. Near the end of the conversation, I was feeling at least some remorse but instead of fessing up, I insisted that he call my wife at home, to get her consent. Probably not my best "out", but I wanted to hang up with the ruse still intact. It wasn't until the next day that I realized that "Bernard" was in fact, "Benny", our recently laid off department director. Over the next 2 weeks, I received probably 3 or 4 calls, all asking in various ways for "Bernard", to each of which I disavowed any knowledge of a "Bernard". I heard nothing from them after that. About 1 or 2 years later, I heard that Benny had just killed himself. True story. *name changed **I still occasionally reply "hold on this is him…"
• Oh, man.
• I used to work in an office in CBS Television City in LA. Every once in a while, I would get a weird phone call from somebody who had clearly called the main switchboard and asked for a random extension in the hopes of talking to somebody famous. My favorite was a message left on my voicemail one night. For full effect, imagine it spoken in a flat, steroetypically nebbishy voice: "Hello? My name is Arthur Sanders. I'm calling for Cher. You know, the singer? Sonny and Cher? That Cher. My number is (NUMBER DELETED). Thank you." I never called back. I have no idea why he wanted to speak to Cher, or why he thought I would be able to help him.
• Yikes, Jccalhoun, moments after clicking "Post New Comment," I had poster's remorse, and realized I contributed to the drift of this thread away from your question. Sorry about that.